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Eat & Drink in London

You want to try out the best gourmet restaurant? You’re looking for a cosy café? You’re looking forward to relishing local specialities? Or you want to turn the night into day at a cool club? Let our select choices inspire you.

Leon Naturally Fast Food

Fast and fresh

The perfect place to go to when pangs of hunger threaten to interrupt a serious shopping session! «Fast and fresh» is the motto of this prize-winning take-away chain that looks set to take on cult status. Its nine branches serve salads, curries and wraps from natural ingredients grown under controlled conditions. The sustainable concept is based on recipes taken from the cookbook of the same name. And something else: this kind of fast food is fun. There are other branches on Great Marlborough Street, Old Compton Street, Strand and Crispin Place.

Pizza East

Trendy

This restaurant in the middle of Shoreditch is an absolute must for anyone coming to London to check out the latest trends. With its brick walls and concrete pillars, the building’s industrial past is atmospherically counterpointed by various items of vintage furniture. The menu ranges from tastefully decorated pizzas and crisp salads to the classic Sunday roast. A small deli and the Concrete Club in the basement round off the attractions.

Fifteen

Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver. Just writing the name of the world-famous British chef is enough. But let’s remind ourselves: it all began with «The Naked Chef». Then came «Jamie’s Kitchen» and the restaurant Fifteen, which opened in 2002. The restaurant concept is a combination of social project and stylish ambience. It gives unemployed youngsters the chance to work in gastronomy. The restaurant reopened in April 2013 after a relaunch.

Nopi

Mediterranean

In keeping with the Ottolenghi eateries dotted about the city, Israeli-born Yotam Ottolenghi has opened an oasis of taste in Soho for business people where wonderful meals are created from the best and freshest ingredients. The individual dishes are not served in the traditional sequence. Instead, the menu offers lots of little delicacies with Mediterranean influences that are served up, mezze-style, one after the other.

The Grazing Goat

Dinner at the pub

Following extensive refurbishment, the former pub is now a hotel with a bar and restaurant. Though the gastro pub continues to be a popular meeting place for a beer after work, the first floor is an exclusive place to dine on visually pleasing, tasty contemporary British fare such as scallops or a spring vegetable and wild garlic pie.

Bob Bob Ricard

Gourmet temple

Worth a visit for the sumptuous interior alone. David Collins has filled this culinary Mecca in Soho with cubist chandeliers that hang from a high mirrored ceiling. Diners sit on dark blue leather benches. The menu ranges from classic British dishes to Russian specialities such as oysters, caviar or truffle vareniki (stuffed dumplings). A wonderfully decadent touch is the champagne button on every table: just press it, and the champagne trolley will immediately appear.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

World class

England’s celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal («Fat Duck») has brought his aesthetically immaculate gastronomic creations to the Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel with his new restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (currently ranked as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world). Guests enjoy magnificent views of Hyde Park from its huge panoramic windows as they dine. Gourmets are delighted by historic recipes that are interpreted by master chef Ashley Palmer-Watts with flair and plenty of skill. The Tipsy Cake with caramelised pineapple is a must for dessert.

The Cinnamon Club

Indian

A visit to London should always include an evening at a really good Indian restaurant. Here in the spacious rooms of the historic Grade II listed Westminster Library, it’s all about «Indian haute cuisine» – experimental Indian cuisine with European influences, served in a stylish, tasteful ambience. The staff are extremely attentive, the food excellent. Deep-fried courgette flowers are followed by sea bass in a banana leaf with coconut and mango chutney or grilled halibut with fresh spices.

Golden Hind

Fish & Chips

The locals are pretty unanimous in rating this the best fish & chip shop in town. The Golden Hind offers mainly fried fish, served in a simple ambience. The fish – cod, haddock, dogfish, skate or halibut – is delivered fresh from the fishing port of Grimsby in the north. It may be hard to believe, but the business has never had an English owner since it first opened in 1914.

Kaffeine

Popular

You'll be lucky to find a seat in «Kaffeine» on a rainy Friday – and goodness knows London has more than its fair share of them. The café is a very popular meeting place with a very warm, inviting atmosphere. The espresso is delicious, and a range of sweet and savoury snacks is served – tasty sandwiches and all kinds of baked goods as well as a cake of the day.

Look Mum No Hands!

Hip and comfortable

As in lots of towns and cities, cycling is seriously cool in London. And if something's trendy, then using it as the interior of a café would be cool, too. As in the café «Look Mum No Hands», which you simply have to visit. First, people are amazed by the clever design of the café. Then they sit down at one of the big wooden tables to enjoy the coffee, tea, and sweet and savoury temptations. And if you come by bike, you can safely leave it in the courtyard. You won’t want to leave in a hurry!

The Ritz Afternoon Tea

Like in a film

Would you like to have tea in an elegant atmosphere, and feel as if you were in an old Hollywood film? Then afternoon tea at the Ritz is just the thing. It becomes a high society event amongst the hotel’s chandeliers and marble pillars. The best tea (or coffee), delicious sandwiches, scones, fruit and Madeira cake, fruit and chocolate tarts. Elegant dress is required, and gentlemen must wear a jacket and tie.

Bar 190

Popular

Ever since the launch party for the Rolling Stones’ «Beggars Banquet» album in 1968, the Bar 190 at The Gore boutique hotel has numbered amongst London’s hippest spots with a touch of the «insiders’ tip» about it. Thanks to the dimly lit ambience, the bar is a popular backdrop for photo shoots. ‘A’ listers come and go on a regular basis, and Liam Gallagher of Oasis chose the Tapestry Room to launch his clothing collection. Tip: The VIP area «Cinderella’s Carriage» can be booked exclusively, and is perfect for an intimate soiree or simply a more private affair (for up to six people).

Dalston Superstore

Creative scene

Dalston, once beset and plagued by problems, is now a meeting place for a host of creative young people. The Dalston Superstore on Kingsland High Street sets trends in both music and fashion. For three years the bar and underground club have been a fashion spot where bestubbled trendsetters in carefully aged togs gather to soak up the sounds of tomorrow.

The Scotch

Rock meeting place

The Scotch is back: this historic venue for the rock elite in the days of swinging London has been restored with a loving eye to detail and now, 20 years on, shines once more in all its former glory. Today, the small stage where The Beatles, The Who, Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart once mesmerised an exclusive circle, rocks again for enthusiastic audiences. The club also has a low-key bar with 20s-style booths for those in the know and the curious.

Purl

Snug

The cosy bar with its underground arches is modelled on a New York speakeasy, where illegal alcohol was served during the Prohibition era. Fine cocktails are brought to the table against the backdrop of dim lighting and quiet music. Separate lounge areas and snug booths provide a healthy level of privacy.

Sketch

Cult vintage pub

Sketch is the eccentric classic among London’s «in» spots. It’s worth paying a visit to this West End blockbuster with a restaurant, bar, tea room and gallery for the design alone, which is somewhere between art and kitsch – from Louis XIV interior décor through LED installations to the lavatory stalls in the shape of gigantic eggs. The multi-coloured little cakes from the cake stand are served with tea in kitschy, old-fashioned rose-patterned vintage cups.

The Collection

Restaurant, bar and club

The well-known interior designer Tom Dixon of the Design Research Studio drew his inspiration from New York’s loft style when he gave this former Porsche garage in Chelsea an extensive facelift. The resulting multi-format concept is extremely spacious by London standards with a restaurant, bar and club on two floors. The long corridor lined with opaque glass and illuminated by indirect lighting provides something of a surprise.

Mark’s Bar

Underground

Contemporary art by Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas is as much a feature of this comfortable underground New York-style Soho bar as its neat billiards table and the inviting sofas. The cocktails are expertly mixed, although guests who only want to use the bar without first visiting the restaurant will have to order a few snacks – but it’s worth it for the experience.